Oregon is wearing yellow helmets with silver wings, white jerseys with green numerals, and yellow pants. Iowa State is wearing black helmets with a white logo, black jerseys with white numerals, and black pants. (I have no idea when Iowa State decided to drop their historic colors and go with all black, but they went 8-3 this year, so I suppose it's working for them.)
The 80's countdown continues:
ReplyDeleteNumber 124: George Michael, "Faith."
Number 123: "In a Big Country."
ReplyDeleteSo good.
DeleteNumber 122: John Waite, "Missing You."
ReplyDeleteThe first time I heard the Gin Blossoms' "Hey, Jealousy" on the radio in the 1990s, I thought to myself, "Good for John Waite, making a comeback!"
DeleteNumber 121: Bananarama, "Cruel Summer"
ReplyDeleteLove it.
DeleteNumber 120: Billy Idol, "Rebel Yell."
ReplyDeleteNumber 119: Madonna, "Borderline." One of my very favorite Madonna songs.
ReplyDeleteNumber 118: Heart, "Alone" Heart had two number one hits: this song (from 1987) and "These Dreams" from 1986. "Magic Man" peaked at number 9; "Barracuda" peaked at number 11.
ReplyDeleteNumber 117, Rick James, "Super Freak"
ReplyDeleteNumber 109: U2, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For."
ReplyDeleteNumber 108: Moody Blues, "Your Wildest Dreams." I was, and am, a huge fan of this song.
ReplyDeleteJustin Heyward wrote and recorded this song when he was about 40. It captures basically the same energy as "Auld Lang Syne" by Dan Fogelberg. This sort of mourning for youth takes up a lot of male energy -- at least it took up a lot of mine -- between the ages of 30 and 45. Ever since I turned 45, I've spent a lot more time being grateful for the time I have left instead of missing the time that is past.
DeleteMe, too!
DeleteI also loved this song and fell in love with the woman in the video. As a teen-ager when this came out, I actually pined to be a middle-aged adult with all sorts of interesting and kissy nostalgia and longings. For quite a while, I pitched forward so frequently into that imagining of a future that I was not investing in the at-hand moments that would ultimately produce the nostalgia. Once I settled down enough to experience the now, it was too soon before I accelerated into the nostalgia. The whole period was exhausting and not satisfying, and even at the time I knew it was ill-advised. But I find I have to aim a little left of center into commitments and prescribed activity to actually hit the now target.
Number 107: Elton John, "I'm Still Standing." Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics for this song when he was 33. See the note on "Your Wildest Dreams" above.
ReplyDeleteGreat song.
DeleteNumber 106: Air Supply, "All Out Of Love." In 1980, I was too young to worry about being overly sentimental, so I was a big Air Supply fan. Now I'm too old to worry about being overly sentimental, and I enjoy them still.
ReplyDeleteNumber 105: Murray Head, "One Night in Bangkok." Someday I will actually spend enough time to figure out what Chess the Musical is all about. But today will not be that day.
ReplyDeleteNumber 104: Guns 'N' Roses, "Welcome to the Jungle." A rare entry from the late 1980's.
ReplyDeleteOne tree-lined area of the too-few parking areas at the bottom of the hill near the dorms at WKU was nicknamed "The Jungle" in the 1988/89 range by some guys who were big fans of this song.
DeleteNumber 103: Dream Academy, "Life in a Northern Town." This song is exactly the type of song you were supposed to like if you wanted to be an Anglophile hipster, and I just didn't like it at all. So the closest I ever got to being an Anglophile hipster was in the mid-1990's when I was reading Nick Hornby and following the English Premier League.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely loved this song. It was the video that really got me--reminded me of the 1960s home movies my dad shot of our family before I was born.
DeleteAt halftime, Iowa State leads Oregon 28-17. The Big XII has made a good showing in the Bowl Games so far.
ReplyDelete"Touchdown Terry" Wilson, formerly of Oregon, quarterbacked UK to victory in the Gator Bowl earlier today.
DeleteNumber 102: Pat Benatar, "We Belong" This song and "Love Is a Battlefield" both reached number 5 on the U.S. singles chart, which was the best performance of any Pat Benatar song.
ReplyDeleteI like her more now than I did then.
DeleteNumber 101: Bruce Springsteen, "Dancing in the Dark." I watched a lot of TV that featured Courtney Cox, and I still think this video was the best thing she ever did.
ReplyDeleteThey were playing "Born in the USA" in the gym at Mississippi State a few minutes ago.
DeleteNumber 100: The Go-Go's, "Our Lips Are Sealed."
ReplyDeleteNumber 99: .38 Special, "Hold On Loosely"
ReplyDeleteLove it.
DeleteNumber 98: Madonna, "Into the Groove." I still think "Desperately Seeking Susan" was a good movie.
ReplyDeleteLove it.
DeleteNumber 97: Dead or Alive, "You Spin Me Round." In the words of someone I once read on the Internet, I don't listen to this song very often, but when I do my neighbors do as well.
ReplyDeleteThat is excellent. I miss dancing.
DeleteNumber 96: Loverboy, "Working for the Weekend." This song was released in October 1981, and was my favorite song in the world from October 1981 through New Year's Day of 1982.
ReplyDeleteNumber 95: Michael Jackson, "Rock With You." I have always associated this song with college basketball season, and in fact it was released in November 1979 -- just before the 1979-80 season, which was extremely memorable to me.
ReplyDeleteWow. Paul Westphal died.
DeleteCharlotte gets revenge for yesterday, beats Western 75-71 in OT. It's really hard to win college basketball games in North Carolina if you're not from there.
ReplyDeleteNumber 94: Flock of Seagulls, "I Ran." A song I have never liked.
ReplyDeleteNumber 93: Billy Idol, "White Wedding." Back when I used to attend dances, I never saw another song get more people to start dancing.
ReplyDelete"Walk Like an Egyptian," "Safety Dance," "In a Big Country," "You Spin Me Round" and "I Am Superman" by R.E.M. would be among those that would outscore "White Wedding" in my experience, but I hear you.
DeleteI think that by the time those other songs became hits, I had quit going to dances.
DeleteNumber 92: Fleetwood Mac, "Gypsy."
ReplyDeleteNumber 91: Rick Springfield, "I've Done Everything for You." Does anyone else remember when he was on General Hospital?
ReplyDeleteI've got to go listen to this. I don't remember it, but I do remember him on General Hospital.
DeleteOh, sure. I know this song. Except I always figured it was called "You've Done Nothing for Me."
DeleteAt the Mississippi State/UK game, MSU has painted "STARKVEGAS" in the end zone of their basketball court. Good for them. They have also painted what appears to be the names of Mississippi towns all around the court. No, wait! They are actually the names of Mississippi counties. What a great idea! Of course, Mississippi only has 82 counties -- we have 120.
ReplyDelete"THE HUMP!"
DeleteNumber 90: Duran Duran, "The Reflex."
ReplyDeleteI was thinking it was at Starkville and at Tuscaloosa where UK lost in 1978, but it wasn't--it was at Tuscaloosa and at Baton Rouge. This is the model of clock radio on which 9-year-old I listened to those games. I can still remember the sound of the numbers flipping.
ReplyDeleteAfter they lost in Baton Rouge, I was absolutely devastated. I was convinced not only that they were going to lose the tournament, but that no team I rooted for would ever win a title in any sport.
DeleteMy main man from Falmouth.
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy to see Daymeon Fishback of Greenwood H.S. in Bowling Green, Ky., on ESPN.
ReplyDeleteIt's not just that Kentucky loses all of these basketball games, it's that they are so bad that they really aren't competitive. They are currently trailing Mississippi State by 9 points with 11 minutes to go, and if you have been watching the game, it's hard to believe that UK could ever beat MSU, no matter how many times they played.
ReplyDeleteNumber 78: Pat Benatar, "Hit Me With Your Best Shot."
ReplyDeletePeople keep saying, UK should do this, or UK should do that, or Cal should play this guy or Cal should play that guy. None of it matters. They are terrible. If you brought John Wooden back, and he got all of these guys to buy in, they would still struggle to win more than five games in the SEC. You have to have a certain ability to play basketball to beat SEC teams.
ReplyDeleteNumber 77: Journey, "Anyway You Want It."
ReplyDeleteThink about it like this. Western Kentucky would struggle to beat Mississippi State. And Western would run UK off the court. No matter how hard the players try, or no matter what buttons Calipari pushes, there is simply a lack of basketball skill that cannot be overcome.
ReplyDeleteRex Chapman tweeted today, and said something like: I've seen these guys play, and I know they can shoot from the outside. The problem is that all of their games have been played indoors. That's about as much analysis as this team deserves. They're terrible, and no amount of hustle can overcome such poor talent.
ReplyDeleteNumber 76: Hall & Oates, "Private Eyes."
ReplyDeleteThis song felt like a whole new era of music the first time I heard it.
DeleteI really like these county names on the MSU floor. We should absolutely do something like this at UK. You could fit two lists of 60 names each, with one list stacked on the other.
ReplyDeleteNumber 75: Van Halen, "Panama." The pop culture version of the 1980's may have ended when David Lee Roth left Van Halen. Or it may have ended on May 8, 1986, when Tracy Pollan made her last appearance as Ellen Reed on "Family Ties."
ReplyDeleteWe've been watching a fair amount of Family Ties in my house, and I'm surprised that I remember pretty much every episode.
DeleteNumber 74: Def Leppard, "Hysteria." Anyway, I'm pretty sure it ended sometime in 1986.
ReplyDeletePeak Def Leppard.
DeleteNumber 73: Kenny Loggins, "Footloose." At some point, someone had the idea to turn "Footloose" into a musical, and about five or six years ago I took my daughter to see one of the local high schools do the musical. I thought the kids were OK, but the songs written for the musical just weren't very good. At least three times during the course of the evening, however, the kids got to do this song -- and every time they did, they brought the house down. What a great song.
ReplyDeleteTo me, this is exactly what's missing from pop culture now. Everything is just too depressing, especially for young people. Young people need to have fun.
DeleteNumber 72: Rick Springfield, "Don't Talk to Strangers"
ReplyDeleteNumber 71: The B-52s, "Love Shack"
ReplyDeleteIowa State beats Oregon 34-17
ReplyDeleteI'm happy for Touchdown Terry.
DeleteNumber 70: Modern English, "Melt with You." This is another one of those English hipster songs that I didn't like as much as I wanted to.
ReplyDeleteOnto the Orange Bowl!
"Love Shack" and "Melt with You" also were huge dance songs in my WKU days. I don't believe I had heard "Melt with You" until I got there.
ReplyDelete